Weekly Weekend Update - TU/Notre Dame game

This weekend was a fast a furious weekend, but it was a fun one!

Friday afternoon Luke and I set off to the airport, to fly out to Chicago.

Here is me and Baby Tree all ready to go:

Actually first we made a pit stop in Denver to meet Luke's parents and then we were on our way to Chicago.

TU (Tulsa University) - where Luke's brother went to school and played football was playing Notre Dame. This was the first ever time for these 2 schools to play each other and at the beginning of the season when Luke found out about this he insisted that we go to the game.

And I'm never one to argue about a trip. I love traveling, even if its quick.

So Friday night we flew into Chicacgo and then Saturday morning we drove to Notre Dame.

The university is so pretty and everybody was so friendly. Everwhere we went I thought, "I wonder if Rudy walked right here?" or "did Rudy take classes in that building?" Needless to say I did not grow up a football fan but rather a movie fan and my only association with Notre Dame is the movie "Rudy" (love that Sean Astin).

We walked around the campus and got some pictures.

Here we are in front of touchdown Jesus:

The whole fam:

And in front of the stadium:

Then we headed into the stadium and found our seats. We had great seats right in front of the field:

And yes I was bundled up like it was 30 degrees outside, when really it was around 62. I am ready for that "always hot" thing to kick in while pregnant.

OK and let's talk about the seats at the Notre Dame stadium. I'm sorry, I called it a "seat" but really it was a PLANK OF WOOD. I mean look: Can you imagine your butt sitting on this for four hours??

There was a Notre Dame fan sitting right next to me and I told her I wasn't used to sitting on such a skinny piece of wood for such long periods of time to watch a football game, we are used to either very nice seats, or very nice bleachers. She was not amused and I'm pretty sure took offense. I didn't care.

Anyways, the Notre Dame band was HUUUUGE and so neat to listen to, here they are preforming:

The little leprechaun man:

And the TU flags! Homeboy carrying the "U" almost bit it about 5 times, he looked terrified, I'm glad he didn't fall but it was funny to watch.

I now need to interrupt this blog post to tell you something. I have a condition called "nervous pee". It is a real condition (diagnosed by myself) and anytime I get nervous I have to use the restroom. Badly.

Well as the seats began to fill up I got so nervous that I was going to have to use the restroom during the middle of the game and I would have no way of getting out of the stands. I mean NO WAY. I looked to my east, west, north and south and this was all is saw:

You couldn't squeeze a sheet of paper through those people.

There was no way to get out.

And suddenly I had to go to the bathroom so bad I couldn't hold it any longer (nervous pee) it was horrible. I eventually made my way out and tripped over people and touched a lot of strangers. I had the awkward choice of either putting my belly in their face or my butt in their face. I chose my butt.

Anyways, the nervous pee was well worth it because we won!!!

After the game we headed back to Chicago and spent some time downtown. It seems like such a fun city and I hope to go back someday. We ate at Giordano's Pizza. Yummm. Cute Luke with his pizza.

Sunday morning, very early in the morning, we flew back home.

It was a quick trip but so fun and we were so glad we got to be there to watch the big win!

Week 19

Luke is at youth tonight so I decided to go ahead and just take the picture myself. Holy growth spurt!!! I can't believe how much I've grown this past week. And we totally know that has nothing to do with the donuts. Ahem.

And yes, I'm wearing my black tank top that I wear underneath shirts so that my giant new "girls" don't fall out of my shirts. Just keeping it classy around here.


How Far Along: 19 weeks (actually I'm 20 weeks today but I like to recap the week before)

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Not sure but I'm guessing it's a lot this week. I go to the Dr next week.

Maternity Clothes: Um...do you see the picture above? Yes friends we are in maternity clothes and loving it. Today I wore my "regular" leggings and I was miserable. I had to go buy some maternity leggings from Target during lunch. Megan and Baby Tree need to BREATHE!

Gender: BOY!!

Movement: Well I was feeling a lot of movement last week but I feel like I haven't been feeling him as much lately, which of course makes me worry a bit, but then I will feel him and I will feel better. I'm just ready to feel him all the time!! How many times did I use the word feel?

Sleep: Sleep has been ok, minus the person next to me stealing ALL the covers! And he has the audacity to blame me. Poor, pregnant, innocent, me. I knew he was the culprit so one night when I woke up to go to the restroom (for the 3rd time that night) I took a picture of all the blankets on his side of the bed for photographic evidence. Just cause I'm pregnant does not mean I steal all the covers!!

What I miss: I still miss my precious deli meat.

Cravings: I'm still craving fruit, and this week I've been craving chocolate donuts. I really won't even tell you how many times I've had donuts this past week. It was less than 5 if that makes you feel better.

Symptoms: I'm starting to be hungry ALL THE TIME. My acne has also gone away a bit so that's nice.

Best Moment this week: It's been a good week overall! Just thankful to be pregnant.

And my favorite husband quote of the week:

Actually, I don't have a funny husband quote this week, however I do have one from my 18 year old sister. We were taking family pictures this weekend and she looked at me and said:

"Are you pushing your stomach out?"

Apparently she thinks I'm faking this whole pregnancy thing. Or that I have some super human strength that allows me to constantly push out my stomach, or that I want to look bigger than what I really am. Who would want that?!?!?

Random BIts

1. I LOVED reading through all the comments about "What's in a Name". Basically everybody thinks that we should choose the name we like. Even if we are taking the chance of having a rowdy, crazy, out of control little boy.

2. I said last night that if the NY Giants won their football game then I would go with my chosen name. They won. The name has been decided upon.

3. Also, NY Giants is a teeny clue to the name.

4. Aside from baby bedding, cribs, and names I have had a lot on my mind lately, which causes me to be more quiet. Quite ironic - More on the mind = less on the mouth.

5. When we lived in our apartment I was the best cook ever. Then we moved into our house and I suddenly became a horrible cook. I'm really not sure what happened.

6. I would really like some new boots, however there are plenty of baby things to buy before new boots. Like maternity clothes, I'm busting out of all my regular clothes.

7. I am 20 weeks tomorrow and I still haven't done my 19 week recap. The reason is because Luke has been busy and hasn't been home to take my picture. Clearly his priorities are out of whack.

8. I am starting to feel guilty today about not working out while pregnant. Let's see if that "guilt" I am feeling changes any of my actions.

9. My husband brought these home tonight:At this point in my life these precious little gems are better than any diamonds, new cars, or designer jeans. Bring on the donuts.

10. Did somebody say something about working out? I can't remember I'm eating a couple of chocolate donuts.

What's in a Name?

I was all prepared to start sharing our Baby Boy Tree's name.

In fact we had moved up to 100% sure that we were using this name and I was good to go.

And then several people told me that everybody that they know that has this particular name is crazy.

Like Crazy with a capital C.

And every little boy that has this name was the worst boy in the class and was ornery and rowdy.

So then I got worried.

And then I started to panic.

And then I started to wonder.

Does a name determine how a person behaves?

Does the meaning of a name have significance upon a person's life?

How much weight do people put into the meanings of names when trying to decide upon their child's name?

I MEAN THIS IS STRESSFUL!!!!!!!!!!

And then while all of these questions were going through my mind I had a flashback to lunch today.

I was standing in line at my favorite sandwich restaurant (they know me now and they know to heat my sandwich up to the preferred degrees). As I'm standing in line the cutest little boy was standing next to me.

I looked down at him admiring this cute little boy, when in a movement that was like slow motion he took off towards the stand of chips and began pulling them down. Like a little Tasmanian devil.

His mom then yelled his name and told him to get back next to her.

And yes, you guessed it. The name she yelled? Why yes it was the name I have picked out. My favorite name! And he was a little terror. Cute, but a terror.

So I'm asking you, do you know the meaning of your name? Do you think that a name determines how a person is going to live their life?

I really don't want to screw up my kid from the get-go by giving him the wrong name!!

Do you think I have issues?

Also, I feel like I have to explain. When I was in college I knew a person that read a book about how a name can either have a blessing or a curse on a person's life.

I do not remember the name of the book, but I have thought of it several times and wondered what it said in the book.

At the time I thought it was weird and had no desire to read it, but apparently it ROYALLY messed with my mind.

So what are your thoughts on a name? Enlighten me.

P.S. Nothing in my life is simple. I complicate EVERYTHING.

P.P.S. There is a good chance that Baby Boy Tree won't be crazy based off his name, but instead based off the fact that his mother is CRAZY TRAIN.

P.P.P.S. I never know if you are supposed to add additional P's or S's when doing more then one P.S.

P.P.P.P.S. Do you think this is the most questions ever in one blog post?

Week 18

I really want to blog about things other than just my weekly pregnancy update. Before I was pregnant I NEVER read these on other people's blogs. I know they are boring, but I am behind in EVERY area of my life and until I catch up the blog takes a back seat. Sad day.

So the update....Um, I kinda look huge in this picture. I feel like I have grown a lot this week, and it's not just me people around me have definitely noticed the growth. The picture above makes my belly look like a torpedo. We're gonna go ahead and blame that on the pants and not the air heads. Or candy corn. Or ranch dressing.

How Far Along: 18 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 5lbs

Maternity Clothes: All pants. No leggings yet, I wore a maternity shirt on Friday and I definitely looked bigger in the maternity shirt.

Gender: BOY!! Name to be announced soon. We have now moved up to 98% sure we are using it.

Movement: Yes! I am feeling more and more everyday. Right now it just feels like "gurgling" in my stomach. And I understand that "gurgling" is a noise and not a feeling but it is happening way too often to not be the baby. It's definitely baby boy Tree!

Sleep: I have been a restless sleeper this week. At the beginning of the week this was because of events I had at work that make me nervous and not pregnancy. Since the completion of my events I have been sleeping pretty good. Nothing like before I was pregnant.

What I miss: I miss being able to eat a deli meat sandwich whenever I want without heating it up or worrying about it. For those not familiar with why some pregnant women choose to avoid deli meat you can read about it here.

Cravings: Fruit, fruit and fruit! I can't get enough fruit. I stopped at Target on the way home from work the other day just to get piles of apples, grapefruits, and grapes.

Symptoms: Oh just the acne as pictured above.

Best Moment this week: Finding out the gender!! It was such a fun day sharing the news with our friends and family!

And my favorite husband quote of the week:

"Whoa, you should take your weekly picture today you look huge"

So that was our week 18. I have been busy this week looking at baby boy bedding and trying to decide on a crib and nursery furniture. So many decisions!!

A Lot of Hair

Hello Tree friends.

I didn't mean to leave you hanging after our big announcement on Tuesday. But, life called and I had to answer. This week was a big week in my job, and I spent a lot of time at work, but now the big events are over and I can relax.

Even though I dont blog from work, if I have a busy week at work I am zapped when I get home and usually I can't formulate a sentence for the blog.

But now we are back to our regularly scheduled program:

Thank you for all of your sweet comments about our Baby Boy Tree. I have to say it: I KNEW IT!!! We are so excited about our sweet little boy that is on the way and we are about 92% sure we have the name picked. I will share it when we get to 100%. Hopefully that will be soon.

I do have to share a funny story.

I know I have talked a lot about being afraid our baby will have a lot of hair. Of course I say most of this in a joking way. I will fall in love with that sweet baby from the moment my eyes land on him, mullet or no mullet. (well I already love him, but you know what I mean) But joking about our baby having a lot of hair has been something that has occured before we were even pregnant.

In fact it started before we were even married.

You see I come from a family of light people, light skin, light hair, light features, which usally results in bald babies.

Then I married this:

Whoa! That's alota hair!

And thus the jokes began about having a baby with a lot of hair.

So I have to tell you, I'm in the ultrasound room, looking at the image of our baby on the screen completely amazed that God put THAT baby in MY stomach. I mean the whole thing is insane if you think about it.

So I'm laying there all relaxed, totally excited that we are having a boy, when the ultrasound tech says:

"omigosh!"

I turn to the screen, only to hear her say:

"this baby as A LOT of hair"

And then she begins laughing hysterically and says:

"I mean A LOT of hair, like maybe the most I have ever seen on an ultrasound"

I wish you could have heard the amount of laughter coming from Luke at this point, he clearly thought it was the funniest thing he had ever heard in his life.

So she turns and points to Luke and says:

"Yes! Like his hair, its sticking up everywhere just like his daddy's hair"

At this point we were all laughing.

It was so funny and has made a funny story to share with all our friends and family who know my "fear" of having a hairy baby.

So who really knows....maybe Baby Boy Tree will come out with a sweet mullet, or maybe it will all fall our before he comes out.

However, at the rate I'm getting heartburn and indigestion I can only guess I am growing quite a bit of hair in there.

Regardless we will be happy, and it makes for a hilarious story.

And I will be sure and pack Luke's hair wax in our hospital bag. If the baby does get Luke's crazy Indian hair we gotta make sure he knows how to rock it!

It's a..........

Week 17

Normally I would use Sunday night to blog about my weekend, but we had a pretty uneventful weekend. It was a fun weekend, Friday we went to my uncle and aunts house for dinner (hi Nelia!) and Saturday Luke went to a church block party while I was in bed not feeling well and then later that night we went to dinner with friends. So fun, but no pictures.

Saturday was a weird day for me, I think the babe was going through a growth spurt. I had lots of random pain and just felt overly exhausted all day long.

Don't worry I only spent about 2 hours on babycenter.com googling symptoms and convincing myself I needed to go to the emergency room. It was obviously relaxing.

But Sunday I woke up feeling so good!! Yay!

Here is my weekly pregnancy update:

How Far Along: 17 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 4lbs

Maternity Clothes: All pants. No shirts or leggings yet, although I did buy my first maternity shirt this week. I plan on maybe wearing it Friday but I still haven't tried it on. So we will see.

Gender: We find out this TUESDAY!!! Since everybody has probably already voted on the poll at the top I guess I can share what I think it is. I agree with the majority of people, I feel like its a boy, and I haven't wavered from that. I will tell you according to many "old wives tales" I'm having a girl, and have all girl "symptoms" but according to this momma's feelings I'm having a boy. I'm anxious to find to (and of course will be happy no matter what blah blah)

Movement: I think so. I have felt little"bubbles popping" or a tiny little flutter in there occasionally. It's happening more and more so I'm pretty sure it's that sweet babe.

Sleep: Sleep has been just ok. I asked my dr about sleeping on my back and she said while its not ideal for the momma, it doesn't affect the baby at all, so if I wake up on my back I don't need to freak out (she already knows me so well). I obviously still try and sleep on my side but Luke has now quit rolling me over if I'm on my back (which my dr thought was a hilarious visual)

What I miss: Can't really think of anything this week!

Cravings: I've been eating ranch on everything. Right now as we speak I'm eating Cheez-it's dipped in ranch dressing. Yuuum. Also still candy, not chocolate but all the sour, tangy, chewy goodness. My one pound bag of air heads is almost gone. Eek!

Symptoms: HORRIBLE backache. My dr. gave me a book that shows different back exercises to help relieve the pain. Have I done them? Nope. Also HORRIBLE pregnancy acne. I didn't have acne this bad in high school.

Best Moment this week: Starting to feel little flutters, and also hearing our baby's heartbeat on Wednesday. And also the dr. telling me that the coke I've been consuming by the gallons (just kidding) is ok. She reiterated that coke is very bad for me in general (blah blah) but its not going to hurt the baby.

And my favorite husband quote of the week:
A funny convo:

Luke: Do you talk to the baby?
Megan: I sing to it in the morning.
Luke: Let me hear it
Megan: (me singing my song about growing in my belly and keeping the hair to a minimum)
Luke: Oh, please leave the singing to me.

FYI: I have an awful singing voice, can't carry a tune, note, melody, whatever its called I can't do it. Luke is the singer in the fam.

I'll let you know on Tuesday whether Baby Tree is a boy or a girl!!!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

There are two things I absolutely love.

Well obviously I love a lot of things, but for the sake of this post there are two.

Cheese and Dips.

I loooove cheese. My love for cheese goes deep and wide. In fact I don't think I've ever met a cheese I didn't like.

I try and go to all events at workjust because there is a chance there might be cheese there.

True story.

I also love dips. most nights I could just eat chips and dip for dinner but that doesn't really fly with Luke.

When I first started selling Scentsy one thing I LOVED about going to parties was to see what type of food people fixed.

I had a friend host a party and she fixed this delicious dip called Buffalo Chicken Dip.

I fell in love and got the recipe immediately.

I then fixed it at my mom's scetnsy party. Lindsey and Jane came and fell in love with it also and said I must blog it.

And that was about a month ago. I kept forgetting

But here is the delicious recipe. Lindsey reminded me of it today and I started craving it and knew that I must have it for dinner.

The Ingredients
(I wanted to fix a little bit for myself tonight so I only did half of the recipe)

2 cans of chicken (10 oz) I understand that canned chicken grosses some people out. It doesn't gross me out. Use whatever chicken you want
2 cream cheese (10 oz) I usually use the box kind but they were all out tonight.
1 cup of ranch
3/4 cups of Frank's red sauce
1 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese

Put chicken and Frank's Red Sauce in a pot on stove, heat up, then mix in cream cheese, let it melt all the way and then add ranch dressing. Mix together completely, lastly add cheese, let it melt.

Then you serve it with your favorite chips. So yummy

It looks a little weird but I promise it is SUPER delicious!!

Wednesday Ramblings

1. I ate an entire box of Velveeta shells and cheese by myself tonight. We are going to go ahead and pull the pregnancy card on this one, even though I do this regardless of being pregnant or not.

2. This is a true picture of the books on my nightstand. Remember that song on Sesame Street "Which one of these is not like the other one, not like the other one, not like the other one"..... Well that applies here.
3. I want to have all of my Christmas shopping completed by Thanksgiving. I also wanted to have my car cleaned out by this past weekend. You should see my car. AKA I will be Christmas shopping on the Eve of Christmas.

4. I have a panic attack evertyime I think about the state of our home. We are going to have to condense two rooms into one to make room for a nursery. Which would be fine if I wasn't married to a musician. Most normal people have a guest room and and an office, which can be made into one room.....but what am I supposed to do with the guitars, and keyboards, and microphones, and oh my blood pressure is rising as we speak. The baby is going to have to sleep in a guitar case.

5. Today we went to the Dr. and were able to hear the baby's heartbeat. They said s/he was moving around a lot in there. I love hearing that sweet little heartbeat.

6. I kept my gender appointment for next week (Tuesday). I wanted to push it back a week but Luke doesn't want to wait any longer.

7. I love our house. LOVE it. And I'm thankful for it. THANKFUL. HOWEVER, who in their right mind builds a house without A COAT CLOSET?!?! This has been stressing me out tonight. All of our coats (well my coats, Luke doesn't own a coat, weird) are in the guests room closet. I need to put my maternity clothes in there. I need a coat closet!!

8. I think nesting has hit.

9. I asked the Dr. about sleeping on your back while pregnant. She said its not ideal, however if I wake up on my back I don't need to freak out.

10. I also asked her if the nurses keep record of how many times a patient calls. She said no. Amen. I was afraid they had my number labeled as "crazy preggo" everytime I called.

Table and Fall Decor

I'm not sure if I've mentioned on my blog how much trouble I have had in finding a kitchen table.

I know I've talked, and whined about it on twitter, but I can't remember if I blogged about it or not.

But anyways...I have had the HARDEST time finding a kitchen table. We moved into our house in March and starting searching immediately.

And continued searching, searching and searching. In the meantime I found a dining room table, but still no kitchen table.

We tossed around the idea of not even getting a kitchen table and doing something fun and funky with the area (although we had no idea what fun funky would be) but I couldn't get over the fact of not having a kitchen table.

Then one day we went into the "As Is" room at a local furniture store and I saw a table that I loved. It was everything I wanted. It was round, it came with a leaf, it was "shabby chic". Everything I wanted.

But it was in the "As Is" section so I figured something was wrong. I looked at the side and saw this:The side was "dinged" up a bit, but it really isn't noticeable.

See you can't even see it here:

And this is the best part....the table was originally $3,100. We paid $300! I can't even do that math we saved so much!!

I snatched that bad boy up immediately!

And with a little touch up wood something or other, that dinged up side won't even be noticeable.

It was WELL worth the wait.

Also in other news I put up a few Fall decorations. I don't have a lot, but I plan to grow my collection throughout the years.

Our fireplace. I think the black stains in the back add a nice touch:

The dining room, I got this centerpiece and runner from Hobby Lobby.
A cute little paper towel holder pumpkin. I got him at Kirkland's and love it.Some pumpkins on my little hutch thing (is this a hutch, I'm not sure what to call it)
So those are my fall decorations. I still need to get a fall wreath.

Happy Fall!

Week 16

Still not sure which one is growing faster, my butt or belly??

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 16 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 4lbs

Maternity Clothes: All pants. No shirts or leggings yet

Gender: Still don't know! We have an appointment scheduled to find out next week but I might push it back. I have a crazy busy week next week and I'm afraid I wouldn't really enjoy it and would be rushed. I'm going to think about it more though.

Movement: Not yet, I'm ready though!

Sleep: I have slept ok lately. I wake up a lot on my back and that scares me. And Luke has quit waking me up when he finds me on my back, instead he just rolls me over. Which then wakes me up.

What I miss: For some reason I have been missing wine this week. I like to drink wine when I eat popcorn and I had popcorn this week and it made me want wine.

Cravings: Just food in general this week. But I really haven't had a big appetite. It's hard to eat a lot. I think my stomach has shrunk.

Best Moment this week: Going to the fair with my family. Such fun times!

And my favorite husband quote of the week:

"The more pregnant you get the more beautiful you are."

Awww, I honestly don't see how he thinks that (cue pregnancy acne among many other crazy things, but I believe him)

So a pretty simple week, which is fine with me!

Weekly Weekend Update - The Fair

Since I started this blog in 2007 there has been one consistent post that occurs every single year.

And this would be the recap of my family going to the fair together.

Every year in advance we decide what day we are going to go to the fair together, and then we starve ourselves that day to make lots and lots of room for fair food.

This year I didn't eat as much as I usually do. Since getting pregnant I get full SO FAST. It's like my stomach shrunk or something. However I did eat bits and pieces of everybody else's food.

And I for sure had my favorite "cheese on a stick" because I LOVE ME SOME CHEESE.

Some pics from the fair.

The Sista's: Kati, Haley, Me
The Parentals:

Yuuum my Indian Taco. I love all things Indian obviously.
Luke and Kati eating their corn. Don't worry there was plenty of butter, salt, garlic salt, and Parmesan cheese slathered on those previously semi healthy corn stalks. There was no nutritional value left.
Enjoying a a comfortable (and very expensive) swing:
These two were also enjoying the swing, regardless of the fact that they wouldn't smile for the camera, rude:
Me with my sweet husband, my sweet hidden baby Tree, and my not so sweet and definitely not hidden pregnancy acne. Somebody get this girl some Proactiv. That night we went back to my parent's house and spent the night. The next day we woke up an just hung around all day. I didn't even change out of my PJ's before we left. It was a lazy Saturday.

My grandparents came over and ate lunch with us and then we left to go back home.

When we were leaving my sweet nephew wanted to watch us leave and sat down on the ground and made my mom and sister Haley (his aunt) sit down with him. He's just a little bossy. So they sat down and watched us drive off.

So that was our fun weekend. Today has been a normal day full of church, lunch, laundry and bible study.

Oh an Giant's football. You can't forget the Giant's football game.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!